AFGHAN WATCH
WHEN Donald Trump halted the processing of
a
ll Afghan immigration applications in November, following the shooting of two National Guard officers in Washington DC by a resettled Afghan refugee, the US president was following a global trend.
At the start of 2025, around 10m Afghans were displaced, nearly 90 percent of whom were in Iran, Pakistan or displaced internally. By the end of the year, Iran had deported 1.8m and Pakistan 1m amid increasing anti-Afghan rhetoric that altered their designation from victims needing refuge to illegals who threatened national security.